A highly emotional day today

Whoo, where to begin? Guess I will start with early in the morning, getting myself ready for church which was at 9:00 a.m. No Bible study, although supposedly it was offered, watching part of a Luther movie, with only one taker, as again we had an experimental service. The Sunday school children sang at the beginning and then stayed, this time, long enough for the 'children's sermon' portion of the service before being excused for their classes. Last time only two kids were left behind in the congregation to hear the children's sermon. The choir sang a couple anthems and a song, different from an anthem or hymn, accompanied at times by a bassoon, accoustic guitar, and piano. Because 'they' had so many things plugged in to the sound system, the MIDI did not work so we had to fake a few things where the MIDI would have played. Whatever.

The saving grace was closing the service by the congregation singing "In Christ Alone". We stood for the last stanza and I was nearly through that stanza before losing my grip: 'no power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand...' Suzanne patted my arm and offered me a tissue. Between that hymn and the readings from Revelation----ugh! End Times always puts me away and I am glad that next week, we will have a regular service and likely sing "Jerusalem, the Golden". My sister reported singing it today at First German. I left Good Shepherd immediately after that service to head to Victory, so I missed the regular service at GS where they were singing "For All The Saints"---rats!

I got to Victory almost in time for the service, coming in at the end of the first hymn. To avoid making a racket, I came in through the kitchen door and then had to walk up the side aisle to find a seat near Linda O., since I did not see Stephanie at first. We sang the hymn "Alleluia, Let Praises Ring" and closed with a new hymn called "Day by Day", not from Godspell, but perhaps the Supplement? Not sure about that, but I do hope so. Too lazy to go and pull it out to look.

The most fantastic thing that took place, as part of the service, was when Pastor invited the military folks, some wearing their uniforms, to the front of the church to be recognized for their service. They introduced themselves, their branch of service and where they served. And thanked their spouses for the support while they were away, many of them married 40+ years. One man evoked alot of emotion as he related his various branches of service, highly decorated, and with much to say. He is not much older than I am but looks far older, due to his medical problems from his service. When the congregation was asked to applaud them for their service, Mr. Block, slowly and deliberately raised his arm in salute, but it was too late, I was already a wreck! Stephanie, who was among those being recognized, tried not to look at me because she did not want to cry while standing up there. So she looked the other direction and saw another person crying. She had to stare straight ahead or blubber herself....sorry, Stephanie!

Immediately after worship, we recessed for Ed and Judy's anniversary celebration. The cooks quickly went outside to grille the meat as others got the pot luck dishes set out. What a feast to be enjoyed! Linda O. asked me to save a seat for her as did Stephanie so Rita and I did just that. Bonnie and Tim, formerly of Victory but now in Palm Coast, sat near us, too, so we all got caught up. Linda wants to get together again before ThanksLiving but I am not sure that will happen, the month is flying away from us. She is now teaching at Virginia College so her time is limited these days as well. This was just such a great great celebration, and I was privileged to be a part of it!

On the way home I listened to the Jaguar game, having been alerted by Justin that the score was tied up at 3 each nearing the end of the quarter. I got home just as halftime was starting so by the time I was situated, the game was back on, with the Jaguars ahead 17-3. That did not last, as the Texans started to score, back to back touchdowns, and such. In the very last seconds, yes, seconds, of the game, the Jaguars managed to score a touchdown even though the pass was deflected into the arms of an unsuspecting receiver. SCORE! The Jaguars once again pull one of out of the toilet, so to speak, and sent me to mine! (sorry for being indelicate....) I called Gretchen and we screamed together, but then I had to hang up because of watching the ChoralFest via wels.net streaming. I saw people I knew and even sang along from home. Did not spot Mom and Lynn in the congregation but the camera did not scan the entire gymnasium. Once more I was weeping, listening to the acknowledgements and such before their final number, "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty". Wow, it was grande! What a blessing our Lutheran schools and heritage are.

Mom holding Angelo

Lisa and family stopped by to see Mom and Jill yesterday, so great grandma got another chance to hold baby Angelo. Her sweatshirt reads something about great grandmothers, and that she is!!

Time to clean house

Last week I got an e-mail from my friend, Judy R., in MN, who reported her home cleansing going on in making things ready for the holidays and guests. First she tackled her office/ guest room, chasing the dust bunnies away (her husband is a trapper, he should have taken that job on!), sorting and filing of papers, and such. Then to her kitchen, organizing and purging her pantry and refrigerator of expired food items. Judy is quite the cook so I imagine she has plenty of foods 'put up' or ready to go for meal preparations. She loves to make soup and usually has a bounty of veggies at hand for making a kettle of something that sounds delicious. Usually, sounds delicious. Sometimes I am not so sure I would like it, but I know that she does. My bean soup made yesterday would fall into the delicious category.

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On Fox and Friends right now there is an author on who wrote a book about staying healthy all the time, never getting sick. One tip is to take cold showers only, which brings to mind a "Seinfeld" episode titled 'The Heart Attack', where George thinks he is having a heart attack, after watching a show about it on television, but finds out he needs to have his tonsils removed. ("What? I can't have a heart attack? I'm entitled!") He is too scared to have the surgery so he seeks out a holistic kook who advises cold showers. George also drinks some funky tea that turns his skin purple....funny, but I don't remember if he ever has the tonsils removed or not. Anyway, this author just made me think of George!

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Back to the cleaning---last night when Judy C. was here, a consummate cleaner, she expressed the thought of going through her collectibles and knick-knacks, as they are 'just too hard to dust'. She finished her announcement with: "Of course, I won't do it..." but at least talking about it gets her closer. Judy has lived in various parts of the world, as her hubby was in the Navy, where she bought or was given things. Sadly the collectibles likely mean more to her than they will to her heirs which is tough to swallow sometimes. Last summer, even before the Great Flood, I had this conversation with Carol W. at the pool, as she was telling about going through her mom's household and stuff, trying to decide who gets what or what should be thrown away. I had already purchased plastic bins to begin my sorting process but something held me back. Guess part of that project got jump started and happened much more quickly than I expected! After the work is done, I swear to get back in those rooms and start going through things. Not necessarily knick-knacks, like in Judy C.'s case, but more about accumulated papers and files, etc. Daunting task but it must be done! If Judy R. can do it, I can do it!

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There is a study out there in the world which claims Americans have an average of $25,000 accumulated assets in their homes. Not the home itself, not the real estate, but 'stuff' inside the homes which can be sold or bartered. Who does the assessment of the value is unknown to me, but I guess one could only tell after all the assets are sold and the money counted. Is this actual or perceived value? Like that program on TV where folks take their 'valuables' for evaluation and find out it is not worth more than dime store purchases today, or that is worth a whole lot more than they ever expected. Who's to say? When Justin was much younger, he was an ardent collector of Pokemon cards. Our neighbor, Dan, used to talk to Justin about his cards, since his kids also played with them. Justin would tell Dan how valuable some of the cards were, and what a good investment they were. It was useless to try to explain how the value only was there if a buyer was willing to pay that much....One time, Justin told us that he was accumulating the Pokemon cards to sell "in case I have a business failure"...That is so funny for a little kid to consider, so perhaps talking to him about supply and demand at that young age was not a mistake. He could use those Pokemon cards now to help with the bail-out!!!

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As we were going through boxes 'n bins in recent months, he came upon some of his Magic Cards and became wistful about his playing and collecting days. He still has thousands of these cards that he took with him when he moved out but these were left behind for some reason. I wonder if they would be counted in the $25,000????

My kitchen smells great

A kettle of 15 Bean Soup is saforating on the stove, with the remains of the Easter Honey Baked Ham adding the flavor. There is a packet of Cajun seasoning to add but thus far I have only put in a small portion of it, for fear of making the soup too spicy. (the spell checker is going whacky trying to figure out ‘saforating’, but we know what it means!) The refrigerator provided a partial bottle of wine from a previous dinner which was added to the water for cooking the beans. One of the finest aromas I have experienced has been beef roasting with wine poured over the top of it, smells like bread baking, somehow or another. Might be the yeast?

The sun is out and it looks like a glorious day, with only occasional cool breezes. Cassidy and I just got home from La Nop where we had lunch with MamMa and Tracy. The cable man was coming between 2 and 5 pm today so Cass came back with me so Tracy could take MamMa to the store for a few things. At lunch, I enjoyed a very delicious strawberry margarita which went down too fast, so I had a diet Coke in between sips of the adult beverage. It occurred to me that I had not had one of these since the weekend before the Worship Conference, at the cabana. No wonder it tasted so good! The ladies had a good laugh at my expense as I discovered something red in my beef quesadilla. At first I thought it was a chunk of raw meat, but upon further investigation, realized it was a tomato!! Tracy and Cassidy about had a fit over that discovery!!! They are vegetarians so are used to eating veggies.

As I am writing this, the printer is sending out pages of postcards for me to distribute for the Ladies’ Advent Service, trying to drum up more business for this event. Right now, I will say, I don’t have a really good feeling about this. The following week we are invited to Victory for their Advent by Candlelight service. Hopefully theirs will pull together nicely. I know they use to reach out to others and I hope it works that way. Besides the postcards I am making notices to post, reminding the ladies to sign-up, and am asking the preschool to post a sign-up sheet in the classroom, too, to see if any of those moms would like to come. I hope so!

Thursday while watching the movie, Justin and I went through the CHRISTmas bags leftover from last year and pulled out the suckers and cookies which do not really have a year-long shelf-life. Especially since the box of bags sat in my river room which is not kind to candy in paper wrappers. Oddly enough, the candy canes were just fine, their cellophane wrappers not melted or anything. Much of the stuff in the bags is reusable but there are only 21 bags leftover. We might need another 10 or so, but this is not something for which I am raising my hand. With the Ladies’ Advent Service and such, plus my traveling, I am not taking on another project. 

Rachel from Victory encouraged me to sing in the choir for the combined concerts on two Sundays in December and after reviewing the music, believe I will participate. The accompanying CD helped, plus getting to read the text of the pieces, assured me the anthems are wise, doctrinal choices. I only hope I know how to sing anymore!!!

My eyes are so tired

Just heard a good report that Amazon.com has removed a pedophilia book from its website after many many folks were pulling their accounts because of their allowing this handbook to be sold on the site. Less than a day and it is gone, good!!

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Today was an awesome one, starting first thing this a.m. with Justin and I heading over to Victory for Bible study. We had a full house, too, and were able to use the kitchen for our class since there was no school today. All the schools around here have off on Veteran's Day which allowed for more folks to attend the class as well. We continued the study of trials and tribulations, and how they are not to be seen as punishment from God, but seeing how the Lord will use the problems in our lives. Sometimes a tough pill to swallow. Pastor and Anne shared a story of having had a health problem with their daughter less than a month after taking a Call to Calgary, Canada. Before they moved, Anne's mom, furious that they were moving to "another country", told them she would NEVER come to visit them in Canada. Well, with Betsy's illness, within five weeks of their moving up there, Anne's parents were on their way to help out with the boys and such while they dealt with the illness. And the doctor there, a Chinese man, told them it was in the Lord's hands, he had done all he could for Betsy. Wow, this man did not even know they were in the ministry and unexpectedly he witnessed to them! Betsy is doing well now, by the way, having moved back to MN and is making a life for herself there. Something is still wrong with her, though-----she loves winter!

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Yesterday I went to Wal*Mart and got my prescription plus a few other items. Some friends are coming here tomorrow night for Dinner and a Movie so I got the ingredients for bean soup. That reminds me, I must borrow an onion from Maureen, if she remembers offering me one last night after Happy Hour. She may not. The ham is from Easter's Honey Baked Ham and I was able to remove some slices from which to make sandwiches. That was delicious! The beans are soaking and the ham is all cubed, ready to go.

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Justin and I took care of that, me more than he, while the pizza was baking for our lunch. The first movie we watched was "Casablanca" which was really good. What a beautiful woman that Ingrid Bergman was, wow! Right after that movie Justin popped in "Mr. Smith goes to Washington" which was so timely, it seems. Both excellent movies and are already claimed by others in my building for their viewing. I have a stack in the kitchen ready to be disseminated. That reminds me---the new videos still need my address labels pasted inside so I can get them back again!

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Tomorrow I will have to get more stamps as I have another newsletter ready to mail, having mailed one off today for our prospect members. Tomorrows is for the members away and our seldom-seens. The rest of my day will be spent readying things for the ladies to come over for dinner, having not dusted or anything since the Great Flood. The bright side of the time change is that darkness comes earlier and the dust won't show as well in the night! We all look better in the dark!

The warmth has returned!!!

Here is a photo Lisa sent yesterday of Angelo's eyes, up close and personal!!

Oh, it is so nice outside right now, having just come in from trying to better see what was bobbing in the basin. It was more brown than black which made me think it was not a manatee. There was never a nose poking out of the water which really puzzles me. Now that I am back in my cat-bird seat, the floating beast is gone from my sight. The temperature is in the high 70’s which felt dandy. I am so glad it was warmer down south where Linda and Tommy are vacationing. It occurred to me today that Tommy might have to get a pat down at the airport and I would buy tickets for that!!!! One of the ladies with whom I enjoy Happy Hour on Wednesday is married to the guy in charge of TSA in Tally and had cautioned about the upcoming increased security measures coming our way. They are here!!!

Connie had asked me earlier today to send out a blanket e-mail to the residents of The Palace to let them know she would be off work tomorrow, as she is babysitting for her niece, out of school for the holiday. Just as I was coming upstairs, she thanked me for sending off the notice, and then mentioned she would rather talk to me about it than the secretary for the building. This is a compliment to me, and I appreciate it. On a similar note, yesterday after lunch, Betty and I popped into Great Hang Ups where two artist ladies I know were hanging out. Kris, the one who taught me the new technique for water colors, had a sheaf of papers with her on the floor. It seems the other lady and she had been to a sketching workshop with a nude and out of respect for me, they put them away when I came in. I much prefer spray painting abstracts with watercolors than I would trying to sketch a naked person!!!! But, again, a compliment to me, or rather, a bow to my sensibilities.

These days I am drinking wwaayy too much soda, it just is going down so good. One reason might be that I bought the Diet Dr. Pepper with cherry which was on sale at Winn Dixie, and even the print on the can states: amazingly smooth. You got that right! Ever since The Great Flood I have not been able to get myself to drink a glass of water, and I do not believe it is physiological. Right afterward, when I was consumed with grief over the accident, my mouth was so dry that I could barely swallow and soda was about the only thing I could drink. Except for the sleepy tea that Jessica made for me, it was the decaf and other soda, not water. Perhaps I am simply out of habit so I will refresh my pitcher in the fridge and try again, to wash this sweetness away.

In a few minutes I am leaving for Wal*Mart to pick up my scrip. The nice lady from the pharmacy called to report I had one ready to pick up, although I did not recall asking for anything. Then it came back to me----when I took my other prescriptions in a few weeks ago, the ‘insurance’, (i.e. Big Brother) would not allow me to fill the cholesterol medication because it was too soon. So, I totally forgot all about it until the lady called me. There must be a call on the black market for Zocor or something to make it a problem to have enough on hand. I can have 6 month’s worth of other meds, but not that one, it seems.

On the way back I have to swing by Papa Murphy’s for a pizza for our lunch tomorrow. Justin and I are coming back here after Bible study to watch “Casablanca”. To save time, I am getting it tonight rather than take the time tomorrow. Later Ellen and I are joining the gang at Happy Hour for the mini-buffet which features steak, red garlic potatoes, steamed spinach (believe it or not, I actually like spinach!) and other things. I cannot wait!

My family is busily making plans for the ThanksLiving feast at Lisa’s house, each one indicating on-line what they are making for their portion of the meal. Lisa is making the bird, and the others the side dishes. Lori makes the most wonderful sweet potatoes, more like dessert than anything else, and Lynn’s mashed potatoes, and the green beans and and and….Last year I was up in WI for ThanksLiving, attending church with Judy R. and her family on Wednesday night and then celebrating the feast with my family at Lori’s house. I do remember driving to Lori’s from Judy’s in the dark, in the snow, and being totally freaked out, even with my special glasses on!!! Ugh! At least here, I won’t have to deal with a snow storm, but my lip is still curled thinking about the good times they are going to have. And celebrating Gabe’s birthday, which is the 14^th. His daddy is taking some little boys and Gabe to the children’s museum for his special birthday treat, which all are crazy about, perhaps even Noah!

Happy and sad, at the same time

Lisa, my niece, sent me a message via Facebook yesterday reporting that Gabe's "Memory Treasure" this week is to learn the hymn, "Jerusalem, the Golden". I am not sure how many stanzas he will memorize or what is required, after all, he is only 7 years old. Lisa said that when Mrs. Unke handed her the assignment, Lisa got 'water eyes', a Justinism for teary-eyed. Oh, yes, those lovely pictures of heaven awaiting us. Ever since then I have had an earworm of that hymn, not a bad thing to have, let me tell you. Last week, she reported, the kids learned "Great God What Do I See and Hear?", and the teacher uses games and such 'tools' to help the kids memorize it. In my comments to Lisa, I told her the students are learning good, solid hymns which will sustain them all their lives, especially when other words fail them. I am just so happy her boys are getting such an excellent education!

How is everyone else doing with the time change? Last night I fought like nuts to not get ready for bed at 7:30 when it was so very dark and today it looked like noon at 7:30 in the morning! The temperatures overnight were at 41 degrees but the sun is warming things right along with the expected high to be 73 when all is said and done. I am so looking forward to having lunch with Betty and Robin at Koko’s, not only for their company but for the great rice. Afterward, of course, I am visiting my lady friends at Great Hang Ups and then stopping at Publix for something, which I cannot remember right now. It will come to me----oh, yes, laundry soap! I love so much the scent of their generic brand of soap and am quite glad the Wal*Mart store brand soap is nearly used up. Justin could have just used it for pressure washing and been done with it, that’s how foul I found it to be. Using the Publix Fresh Scent has my clothes smelling nearly as nice as Lynn’s dried on-the-lines laundry.

One consequence of dropping some of my extra-curricular activities is that it has allowed me more free evenings which is not usually a bad thing, but on Monday nights, it seems to be. In the future, I should save ‘watching’ my radio program to Monday nights since there is little on TV I care to watch. Thankfully I have a vast collection of DVDs to pull me from the depths and last night I amused myself with “Frasier” episodes. Oh, my goodness, I was soooo wishing my sister, Lori, was here to watch with me, and sent her a message telling her this. She wished she was here, too! The one that really tore me up was when Woody, from Cheers, went to visit Seattle, still dumb as a rock. At one point Frasier invited Niles to enjoy some pizza and beer with Woody and him. Niles said he would be delighted to enjoy beer and pizza with ‘these rapscallions’, and Woody, in true form, asked, “Can we order that half rapscallions and half pepperoni?” Just like in the old days, my legs flew up in the air in my laughter, and I remembered scaring the daylights out of Lynx, the cat!!!

Late last week I made the decision to stop waiting around for decisions to be made and sent Mike an e-mail letting him know we are going ahead with the repairs. I feel if we take lots of pictures of the walls--before, during and after—we should be fine with the insurance people. They, then, can finish my floor installation and all my bins can be put away and the rooms made to look nice again. This week I am having some ladies come for “Dinner and a Movie”, now that the cabana is closed (excuse me, I need a moment here to regroup….okay, I’m good) and I hate having the bins and such spread into my family room and foyer. They are better placed there than to have the guys moving them around, because they have more than enough to keep them busy back in those rooms! It would be a safe estimate to say there are less than 50 bins between the two rooms right now…

This reminds me that I must buy a closet light fixture to replace the blinking, sizzling-sounding one in the Timmy closet. The paint is purchased but yet in my car and I can carry them up one at a time so they are ready for Mike to apply to the ceiling and walls. I have a gorgeous pendant light in the cabinet but would certainly not present well in the seldom-opened closet. Sure wish I had good place to hang that light because it is so me...

Dee and Julia sort of talked me out of selling my house now, telling me it would not be wise to make such a decision because of the trauma of The Great Flood. Of course, others have said the same thing, but then some others were concerned about my peace of mind and stressed spirit. The depressed market would not allow me to make any money on the sale right now, or perhaps ever, I am aware of that, but now is certainly the time to buy. There are more assessments coming down the line for the condo building, not the least of which is for the forensic plumber and his findings, the repairs that need to be made so this never (or likely would not) happen again. It is a tough decision to make, and especially if the health care bill is not recalled, in a few years I would face paying sales tax besides the other closing costs. Ugh! So, now versus later……….hmmmm………On days when no disasters occur, I sure love living here. But on days when disasters occur, I am so out of here!